Family Assistance Hardship Letter (Free Samples)

We Need Financial Help!

A family assistance hardship letter is simply a request for help. Many people find themselves in tough financial situations. Being able to communicate your troubles is a good way to make some progress in finding the help you need to get by financially. The samples provided will assist you in finding financial aid programs, including government welfare programs, which can help you get on your feet until things get better. In this article, we will go over specific examples which can be altered to meet your needs and the needs of your family. Let’s get started and go over family assistance hardship letters and how effective they can be when you need some financial help.

NOTE: On all examples given, you will need to fill in your personal information and the contact information of the people you are writing to. For this article, I will simply give examples of the wording you should use to get help.

Example 1 – Child Support Issues

Mr. Smith,

I am writing you this letter in regards to extreme financial hardship my family is enduring. I am in need of assistance for my family to get by financially. It is my hope that you will be able to help me out.

I have not received my child support payment from my ex-husband, John Doe, for the last 4 months. As you will not on my file, I am supposed to receive $225 every two weeks for child support. This means I have $1,800 owed to me in back child support at the time of this writing.

I am asking you or your agency to contact Mr. Doe to arrange payment. As a single parent, I cannot afford to be without payments for this long. At the rate things are going, I will end up evicted from my apartment. Without the child support payments I am owed, there’s no telling where me and my children will end up.

Please contact me and let me know how you intend to help me out with this. I need your help.

Sincerely,

Jane Doe

In this sample letter asking for family assistance, the writer has told the reader exactly what has happened to cause financial hardship. In this case, the writer has not received their child support payments as scheduled. The writer has clearly asked for help from the reader. They have even asked to be contacted with the progress that is made. This is an effective example that you can use to get the help you need.

Example 2 – Government Help Programs

Mr. Smith,

I am writing you to appeal your decision regarding my eligibility for food stamps (or low income housing, welfare payment, government backed health care, etc.). My family is currently experiencing financial hardship due to recent event and requires this type of assistance to get by. Without your help, we will not be able to afford food for our children.

Since I applied for food stamps last month, my husband had his work hours reduced. We were barely able to make ends meet before and will struggle even more now. As you know from our file, he was working fulltime, 40 hours per week at Kmart. Since the store’s sales are down, he is being reduced to 32 hours per week. This represents a 20% reduction in his income.

I am asking you to reconsider our application for food stamps. Since our financial situation has changed, we feel we should meet the criteria for eligibility. Please contact us to let us know what we have to do to get the benefits we need to survive.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

John and Jane Doe

In this sample of a family assistance hardship letter, the writer has asked for reconsideration for a government help program they were once denied. The writer has specifically stated what type of incident has happened, namely a reduction in work hours and income, which has caused financial strain. This is a very legitimate reason to file an appeal on a decision that was made.

Example 3 – Free or Reduced Price Student Lunch and Student Dues

Principal Anderson,

I am writing you to ask for consideration for free or reduced price meals and student dues for our three children, James, William, and Susan. I ask for this type of assistance for my family as we are experiencing financial hardship at this time.

My husband’s employer, Kmart, has announced that they will only pay 50% of their employee’s health care coverage cost instead of 70%. This will represent a decrease in take home pay of about $350 per month. We are not able to absorb this reduction in take home pay since we are barely able to make ends meet now.

Without some form of help from the school, we are afraid our three children will not get the proper meals and nourishment they need to stay healthy. I understand the school offers this type of help for student that meet low income guidelines. While we may not qualify based on our gross income, our net income is much lower than that of many people that qualify for the program.

We would like a chance to sit down with you and talk about our situation and what can be done to keep our children safe and properly nourished.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

John and Jane Doe

In this example of a family assistance hardship letter, the author has explained exactly what has happened, which is a reduction in health benefits. This has impacted the author’s take home pay. The writer has clearly asked for help and asked to meet with the school principal to discuss their financial woes and situation in an attempt to get help.

I sincerely hope you can use these examples to get the help you need. Since everyone is in a unique situation, they will all most likely need to be adjusted to suit. Please use these as a reference resource when you need to use family assistance hardship letters for help.

Comments

Jul 14, 2011 9:53am

JudyE
These letters are a great basis for someone who has trouble communicating clearly and precisely what they want to say. As you say, they just need to change details to suit their situation and they're ready to write.

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